The Last Stand Chapter 1
by TheGreenAuthor
Summary: Three young men embark on a weekend hiking trip that turns into a survival game with a mysterious creature deep in the woods.


The evening sun dipped low over the horizon, sending a few last ripples of color before surrendering to the moon to cast its glow over the dark curtain of stars. Deep in the forest, a large campfire crackled and popped while the three young men relaxed and leaned back, each lost in his own thoughts while watching the last of the flames lick hungrily at the dry sticks. In the distance, they could hear the sound of water rushing over the rocks in the nearby creek, while a variety of insects began their nightly chorus. Trees swayed gently above their heads where the moon did it's best to provide a small bit of light despite the dense leaves that permeated the woods surrounding their campsite. After a couple of hours of ribbing each other about the difficult hike, the fire began to burn low. The largest of them was a young man named Ben. His six foot two inch frame was almost as broad; and he had taken advantage of his size on the athletic field; but he was quiet and introspective most of the time. Ben came from a modest family and had had to work for as many of the 19 years of his life as he could remember.

Ben stood and stretched. "I'm heading to bed."

Sam and Jake both stood and quickly spread out the coals and doused the fire with water from the nearby creek.

"Let's sleep out here." Sam said as he walked over to his pack to get his sleeping bag. Sam stood almost as tall as Ben, but was not as thick. He had been born into a family that gave him more money than time and feared almost nothing. His calloused heart and adventurous spirit made him the natural leader in the group.

"I'm in." Jake said and hurried to follow Sam. Jake was significantly smaller and completely enamored by Sam's swagger. His family was also well endowed and Jake knew nothing of the struggles someone like Ben faced every day.

Ben immediately chimed in, "Not me. I don't want to be covered in mosquito bites tomorrow. You two are not welcome in my tent in the middle of the night, so make you choice now."

"There's no bug that can take me down!" Sam threw is sleeping bag down and flexed.

"I'll bet you will change your mind in the morning."

"You are such a girl!" Sam sneered and Jake quickly laughed as well.

Ben rolled his eyes and worked quickly to set up his tent in the darkness, while they continued to hurl harmless insults at him; but it didn't last long. They had hiked over twenty-three miles and they were all exhausted. Ben climbed inside, zipped the door closed, and curled up in his sleeping bag. He didn't care one bit if they made fun of him. Why would anyone carry a tent and not use it? He had hiked these kind of trails before and knew the value of protection from those horrible insects.

In what seemed like only a few minutes, Ben opened his eyes to see light dancing along the side of his tent. He was supposed to set his alarm and forgot. He rolled over and looked at his watch. It was after 8:00 AM, way past their scheduled start time of 7:00 AM.

"Crap!" He half yelled as he kicked off his sleeping bag and stuck his head outside the tent to see if the others were up. Sun beams had pushed through the foliage and the air was thick with heat. Ben was not surprised that they had all slept in so late with the mileage they had been putting in the last few days. Sleeping late was not unusual at home; but they had wanted to hit the trail early this morning in order to finish the last twenty miles to the next town. Jake was balled up in his sleeping bag and snoring; but Sam was nowhere in sight. His sleeping bag was gone as well, so Ben sat back down inside his tent and began to roll up his gear to get ready to leave. Ben expected to hear Sam's stern voice any minute urging them to hurry, since the trip had been his idea.

A section hike along the Appalachian Trail to end the summer before heading back to school. It had sounded fun and exciting at the time; but Sam made everything sound that way. He could talk Jake into anything and usually did. Ben was the quiet one; but he had hiked a lot with his dad and relished the thought of getting out in the woods before having to return to his senior year at Meeks College in Meeks, Tennessee.

Ben tried to hurry and pack his things. He just wanted to finish this last day and get back home. After several days in the woods together, Ben's patience was wearing thin. He was sure Sam would start in on him again about not sleeping outside and Ben didn't want to listen to any more ribbing than necessary. Jake was getting on his nerves too with his nauseating man crush on Sam. They were both from a small town in Florida attended Meeks as well; and that was where the three of them had met. Jake was sucked into being Sam's sidekick; and he really didn't mind. Ben was through with both of them for now. He stuck his head back outside the tent and nudged Jake.

"Hey Jake! We need to get up. Looks like Sam's already packed. You know how he likes to get on the trail early."

Jake groaned and pulled the end of the sleeping bag over his head. "Not yet. Give me half an hour."

By now, Ben was tugging his gear out of the tent and he pushed his friend with his foot. "I'm not kidding, man. Get up! We need to go!"

Jake sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up and buy a little time. "Do we have any more of those granola bars?"

"Sam has them in his bag. Let's get this junk up and hit the trail. We can get more at the next town."

"Man I'm heading straight for the nearest pizza place. I'm gonna eat a whole large pizza by myself."

"Sounds good." Ben finished packing his gear and began to disassemble the tent. As he began pulling up the stakes, he saw a trail of granola bars and clothes and he followed them into the edge of the woods, where he found Sam's backpack open with the contents strewn all over the ground. "What the..." He went over and picked up the pack, which was covered in a wet, slimy substance. "Yuck! What's this crap?"

Jake stumbled over, shoes on but not tied and still trying to will himself awake. "Oh, man, that's gross. What is that?"

"Looks like something spilled all over it. It's really sick." Ben tossed the bag down.

"I'm not touching it. Sam can clean that up himself. Hand me one of those bars."

"Get it yourself. Where the heck is Sam, anyway?"

"I would guess down by the creek."

"Where's his sleeping bag? Why would he take that down there without his pack?"

"I don't know, maybe he slept down there."

"That's stupid. You stay here and keep packing your stuff, I'll go check on him."

"Whatever." Jake laid back down on his sleeping bag, crunching on a bar.

"Get up, we need to be ready!"

"Okay, okay, I'll get up," but Jake continued to lay across the bag, while Ben walked down to the creek shaking his head and wishing this day would go fast.

There were strange marks on the ground on the path to the creek and Ben was trying to figure out what they were, when he found the source. He turned a corner and in the middle of the path was Sam's sleeping bag, or what was left of it. The marks had been made by the bag being pulled down the trail. The bag was zipped closed but the middle was completely torn open with down and stuffing all over the ground and no sign of Sam.

Ben ran back up the short path. "Jake! Come here!"

Jake jumped up, "I'm awake!" he said with crumbs dripping down his chin and getting stuck in his beard. He wiped off the crumbs and followed Ben to the place where the sleeping bag laid torn open and destroyed. "Where's Sam?"

"Good question."

"What happened to his sleeping bag?"

"Another good question."

"Do you think it's a bear?"

"I don't know; I guess it's possible. You were right next to him all night. Did you hear anything?"

"No, man. I was out. I barely remember going to bed."

"Idiot! Did you guys drink again?"

"Just a little. Sam had a couple of small bottles from his dad's last party. They were tiny." Jake held his fingers up to show the size.

"So you guys got drunk and now you have no idea what happened because you were too passed out! How did you plan on hiking today? I cannot believe Sam-"

"No, man. He was already asleep. I just chugged away by myself."

"You mean you cannot even stay away for just a few days? You are an alcoholic, man."

"Sorry! Sam just threw them in at the last minute and last night just seemed right."

"Well-"

A low growl followed by a stick snapping around the corner of the trail caused both Jake and Ben to drop to the ground. Any feelings of being annoyed with each other were quickly replaced with fear, as Jake slowly picked up a stick and looked around, staying close to Ben. They sat perfectly still and waited; but nothing happened. After a full minute, they both slowly stood up looked around. The only sound was the nearby water rushing over the rocks. Jake took the stick and began to poke around at the shredded bag. Ben held up his hand to signal Jake to stop and then cautiously continued on the trail down to the creek with Jake following closely behind, holding the stick up high and ready to strike. Neither said a word as they continued. The sight of the shredded bag made them fear the worst; but neither wanted to say it out loud. Nearing the water, they heard the low growl again and another stick break. Instinctively they both dropped low to the ground again and craned their ears. Jake started to tremble and Ben signaled for him to stay put, while he slowly moved forward to try to see what was making the strange noise. Ben suddenly stopped and turned to look at Jake and signaled for him to move up beside him. He leaned in close to Jake and whispered,

"It's right around this corner, I can see it's shadow moving."

Jake nodded and tightened the grip on his stick.

"Stay close to me." Ben picked up a rock the size of a baseball and moved forward again. Without warning, the growling stopped followed by silence. Ben and Jake looked at each other and sat motionless for what seemed like an eternity. Carefully, Ben eased around the corner and disappeared out of Jake's sight. Jake waited and heard nothing, so he moved slowly forward and turned the corner. Ben was standing up looking at what appeared to be the same sticky substance on the ground.

"What-" Ben held up his hand to keep Jake quiet and he motioned for Jake to come near. Drops of the substance continued down the worn path ahead of them. Before either of them could say a word, everything went black.


End file.
